Advice needed on Windows not booting properly.

Computer Help and Discussions Software
1

I thought I had a problem last night that was gonna beat me. ;)

Downloaded 3 driver updates from HP, update to Returnil, and installed Spyware Terminator to try, (not under Returnil).

All working fine until I tried to uninstall Spyware Terminator. PC froze completely and had to reboot. Same thing happened again.

Rebooted again, and tried system restore, which is where the main problem raised its ugly head.

PC restarted, and I was presented with this screen. (Photographed).

dscn0838.jpg

Rebooted, same thing. So I went into safe mode and first tried system restore. Same result.

Uninstalled Returnil. Same result. Removed HP updates. No joy, back to the same screen.

Tried reinstalling graphics and audio drivers, and bingo, pc booted as normal.

Question is, what caused the problem in the first place? Reinstalled Returnil, no problems.

No sign of Spyware Terminator anywhere. Not sure about reinstalling HP updates for obvious reasons, and not sure if System Restore had taken a wobbler, as that's when this screen appeared.

This is my usual "long story", but it might benefit folk who know even less than me, and it would be nice to know the cause, and the best solution to, "Page fault in non paged area", as I have no idea what that means.

2

The absence of ECC RAM is the most likely culprit - a cosmic ray caused the kernel mode driver to corrupt itself. Windows cant deal with kernel mode driver crashes. Strangely non-ecc ram is the last of the key computer components to not be resilient to soft errors.

3

Just an initial link for you to look at. This is a stop error link page from the respected aumha forums

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

4
The absence of ECC RAM is the most likely culprit - a cosmic ray caused the kernel mode driver to corrupt itself. Windows cant deal with kernel mode driver crashes. Strangely non-ecc ram is the last of the key computer components to not be resilient to soft errors.

Thanks for the input Caldor, and the quick reply, but wooshhhh. Straight over my head. Can you simplify that, or provide a link to more details, as I would like to understand it.

Just an initial link for you to look at. This is a stop error link page from the respected aumha forums

http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm

Thanks Hazel, I'm gonna study that page at length, and it's interesting that this is something rare for a user to experience.

STOP messages of this type are rare, obscure, and usually only of interest to programmers debugging their code. Real-life scenarios of a computer user encountering them are unlikely.

I'll post it on that forum as well.

5
The absence of ECC RAM is the most likely culprit - a cosmic ray caused the kernel mode driver to corrupt itself. Windows cant deal with kernel mode driver crashes. Strangely non-ecc ram is the last of the key computer components to not be resilient to soft errors.

Er, I think the page_fault_in_non_page_area refers to a location on the hard drive, wouldn't it? The memory dump, sure, is from the RAM but the page file lies on the hard drive.

6

Just an update for info purposes.

After elliminating the possibility of a RootKit, (one possible cause for Stop: 0x00000050), I'm certain now that the problem was caused by 3rd party driver software.

STOP: 0x00000050 can be caused by:-

?Hardware failure (memory, processor, or motherboard).

?Anti-virus software that is running on your computer.

?Drivers installed by third-party software.

The process of uninstalling one by one in safe mode the updates downloaded earlier that day, and then trying to boot, resulted in the problem being solved after the uninstalling of the HP driver updates, and installation of the original factory shipped drivers from Compaq Driver Recovery.

But there's still the possibility that the installation and unsuccessful attempted removal of Spyware Terminator may have screwed up the driver downloads.

I'll have to think about updating the drivers again and see if every thing's hunky dory. Maybe.

Thanks to Hazel for the links, (you're still a star), and thanks Caldor for your input.

This link, with the 0x50 error in the left menu, led me via the 2nd link down, to this page, with the info on 3rd party software.

I only realised today, that I might have actually had the infamous "blue screen of death", and fixed it.

I'll tell you something, when you get a serious problem, and you can't even get online for advice, you really appreciate all the stuff you've learned from this League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Women.

I would have been completely f***ed if it hadn't been for the stuff I've learned here.

I hope you guys never have such an exciting night, but if you do, best of luck. :D

7

Great detective work Dennis.

Glad you are sorted :)

8
Er, I think the page_fault_in_non_page_area refers to a location on the hard drive, wouldn't it? The memory dump, sure, is from the RAM but the page file lies on the hard drive.

The key thing to consider is that the registers lost the plot over a memory issue. The kernel doesnt care if thats page fault memory or real memory. I'd safely bet a six pack of beer that its a bit flip error in non-ecc ram resulting in corruption.